The Topic and Research Question
How to Find a Topic and a Research Question
Organization
Before we delve into how to find a question or how to find a topic, we need to organize our space.
Create a folder called “project_x” with the following subfolders (you will change the “x” to a relevant keyword later).
Topic vs. Question
We will distinguish between:
- Topic: a broad area or theme you’re interested in studying
- Research Question: a specific, focused question that helps you investigate something within that topic
Research Topic
Intro
A research topic comes from:
- your curiosity (influenced by events and processes around us)
- the events, issues, or processes we observe in the world around us
- the theories and frameworks that you have read (ideally in the academic literature)
Choosing a Topic
How To Find a Topic
- What’s a big question you’ve always wondered about?
- What’s something people always argue about that you’d like to understand better?
Note: the question should be relevant (present in the news).
- See what topics have been published in the leading journals in the last two years
Choosing a Topic
How To Find a Topic
These are topics (and subtopics) that have been published in American Journal of Political Science since Jan 2024
- Democratic Backsliding and Political Legitimacy
- Citizens as a democratic safeguard
- Populism, legitimacy, and the law
- Identity, Ethnicity, and Conflict
- Administrative units shape ethnic identity
- Colonial legacies and ethnic party formation
Choosing a Topic
How To Find a Topic
These are topics (and subtopics) that have been published in American Journal of Political Science since Jan 2024
- Experimental Methods and Policy Interventions
- Citizen engagement and Public goods
- Gender quotas and electoral backlash
- Global South and Postcolonial Politics
- The colonial origins of intergroup inequality
- The subnational politics of repression in Africa
Choosing a Topic
Advice
- Am I excited to spend time thinking and writing about it?
- Start broad and narrow down as you read more.
- Avoid using AI to generate your topic — this should come from your own curiosity and from the constraints (topics published recently) indicated
Example:
- Big Topic: climate change
- Narrower Topic: youth activism and climate change
- Question: how TikTok is used to spread climate change awareness among teens
Choosing a Topic
Exercise 1
Spend 5 minutes coming up with a topic based on specific curiosity questions (not research questions)
Example:
- Q1: Can one person really make a difference in the fight against climate change? → Wildfires and Collective Action
- Q2: My cousin drives an electric car—does that help? → Technology and Climate Change
- Q3: Should plastic be banned? → Policy Effectiveness and Climate Change
- Q4: Do gender quotas produce backlash from men in parliaments? → Political Representation and Rhetoric
You are likely interested in climate change
Choosing a Topic
Exercise 2: Explaining to Oneself Why that Topic
Circle 2-3 questions that most interest you.
When you circle them, spend 5 minutes writing 1-2-sentences answering the following questions
- Why does this matter to me?
- What do I think is true about this?
- What aspect of the problems do I want to know more about?
Choosing a Topic
Exercise 2: Explaining to Oneself Why that Topic
Example: Q4: Do gender quotas produce backlash from men in parliaments? → Political Representation and Rhetoric
1. Why does this matter to me?
Because it reveals how efforts to improve representation can unintentionally provoke resistance from those who feel their power is threatened. Understanding that backlash helps explain why progress on gender equality is often uneven or fragile.
2.What do I think is true about this?
I think it’s true that some men respond defensively to gender quotas—not just out of self-interest, but because they view them as unfair or symbolic rather than merit-based.
3. What aspect of the problem do I want to know more about?
I want to understand how backlash manifests—whether it affects legislative behavior, cooperation, or public rhetoric—and whether it can be mitigated through institutional design or framing strategies.
Topic
Finding the Topic
The topic will also potentially change once you become a bit more familiar with the literature.
The next step will be to join an intellectual conversation by becoming familar with the literature
We will have a dedicated session later for how to do a literature review.
Finding the Topic
To Do
Make a list of articles that are close to your personal interest.
- Search online (Google Scholar) for 3 articles directly related to your topic.
- Type in the two factors you might be interested in. For example:
- “youth activism and climate change”
- “citizen participation and democratic backsliding”
- “colonial legacies and quality of bureaucracy”
- “gender quotas and political rhetoric”
Finding the Topic
Example
Let’s imagine I am interested in “gender quotas and political rhetoric”
Finding the Topic
Example
Let’s imagine I am interested in “gender quotas and political rhetoric”
Finding the Topic
Example
Let’s imagine I am interested in “gender quotas and political rhetoric”
Finding the Topic
Example
Choose based on:
- relevance (how close it is to what interests you)
- citations (indicator for how popular the scholar’s work is)
- source type (favor peer-reviewed publications like “Journal of …”)
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Finding the Topic
Example
Save the pdfs to the literature folder using the following format:
“author_last_name_year_title_keywords.pdf”
See below for an example:
Finding the Topic
Example
What if the documents in Google Scholar are irrelevant or inaccessible?
- keep looking at Google Scholar both based on relevance, number of citations, and source type (where you favor journal articles as opposed to IMF reports or newspaper articles) until you have three documents
Finding the Topic
To Do: Highlighting
- Spend 5 minutes and go through the three abstracts:
- highlight the verbs and key phrases about what the authors were asserting
- If the articles are not close to what you had in mind, keep looking until you have 3 articles
Finding the Topic
To Do: Highlighting
Example: Key Verbs - in yellow; Key Phrases - in red
Finding the Topic
Reflection: To Do
The authors are your interlocutors. To start a conversation, spend 10 minutes answering the following questions (2-3 sentences per question)
- Do you agree or disagree with their main conclusion? Why?
- What questions do you still have after reading the abstracts?
- What do you want to say to them and why is it important to say that?
- Why does the topic chosen matter to you?
Finding the Topic
Reflection: To Do
Example:
Do you agree or disagree with their main conclusion? Why?
Agree. Reframing quotas to address men’s overrepresentation challenges the assumption that men are the default and promotes a more balanced standard for evaluating all candidates. It’s a provocative but necessary shift to make meritocracy truly inclusive.
What questions do you still have after reading the abstract?
- How would ceiling quotas for men be implemented without backlash or unintended consequences?
- Do they have empirical evidence that overrepresentation leads to lower-quality politicians?
What do you want to say to them and why is it important to say that?
Great that the authors are flipping the script. By naming overrepresentation, they expose a power structure that’s rarely questioned. It’s important because it forces us to rethink fairness not just as inclusion but also as limitation.
Finding the Topic
Reflection: To Do
Example:
Why does the topic chosen matter to you?
It matters because it challenges how we define excellence and fairness in politics. The idea that merit is already gendered makes me rethink the legitimacy of who holds power—and who is excluded.
Research Question
Definition
A research question is something more narrow than a topic.
- the research question has to be important
- the question has not been answered before (it should stem from some gap)
- the question has to be researcheable:
- can you access people, statistics, or documents from which to collect the data?
- can this data be accessed within the limited time and resources you have available to you?
- How long would you need to complete the research necessary to answer the question?
Bad Questions
Examples
Example 1:
Is the US winning its “War on Terror”?
- important question
- too broad to be researched
Better version:
What has been the impact of the securitization of Muslim charities in Egypt since 9/11?
- still important
- specific
Bad Questions
Examples
Example 2:
“Does globalization undermine the basis of the nation state?
- important question
- too broad to be researched
Better version:
“What impact does economic integration have on state autonomy?
Do high levels of integration into the world economy decrease a state’s ability to manage its public finances?”
- still important
- specific
Other Bad Questions
Examples
How did the Cold War end?
- overly descriptive
- does not have an exploratory angle
Does politics affect the economy?
- too vague
- the answer is too obvious (i.e. “yes”)
Will there be peace in the Middle East?
- it’s speculative and journalistics
- there is no theoretical framing
Good Questions
Examples
Explanatory
- What factors act as a stimulus or facilitator to terrorism?
- Why Do Some Post-Authoritarian States Succeed in Building Independent Judiciaries While Others Do Not?
- Why Do Civil Conflicts Reignite After Peace Agreements in Some Cases but Not Others?
Good Questions
Characteristics
What makes them good?
- Identify a clear outcome to explain (judicial independence, civil conflict recurrence, terrorism)
- Imply causal mechanisms: They’re asking why variation exists across cases, inviting theory development.
- Are researchable: You can define measurable variables, collect data, and test theories.
Okay-ish Questions
Predictive
- Will the Spread of Disinformation Undermine Electoral Legitimacy in Emerging Democracies?
- Can Declining Trust in Traditional Media Predict Support for Populist Parties?
Descriptive
- What are the consequences of AI for politics?
- How will different audiences react to terrorism?
- What type of individual becomes a terrorist?
Prescriptive
- Can political violence be justified?
- How can governments respond to terrorism?
Okay-ish Questions
| Category | Typical Shortcoming | Why It’s “Okay-ish” |
|---|---|---|
| Predictive | May lack causal theory | Good forecasting ≠ good explanation |
| Descriptive | Lacks causal argument or theory | Describes patterns but doesn’t explain them |
| Prescriptive | Normative not empirical | Can’t be tested empirically in standard ways |
Note Bene: These questions can become good, but more work needs to be done to convince the reader that these are good research questions
Research Question
Coming up with a Research Question: To Do
Spend 5 minutes coming up with three research questions based on the topic you identified.
Examples:
- How do gender quotas affect the tone of parliamentary rhetoric by male politicians?
- Do gender quotas lead to shifts in how male politicians frame issues related to gender and representation?
- Do gender quotas increase the use of gendered or exclusionary language in legislative debates?
Research Question
The Rationale
After you come up with a research question, you also need to reflect on:
- why is your question interesting (without clearly stating: “My question is interesting because”)
- why is it important: why does it matter?
Research Question
The Rationale: To Do
Try writing a sentence that starts with, “This finding is important because…”
What are some possible reasons a reader would care about your article?
- You substantiate an existing theory in your field.
- You take a side in a debate in your field.
- Your findings contradict conventional wisdom.
- You show that both sides of the debate have it wrong and propose an alternative.
- You provide an answer (not the answer) to an enduring question in your field.
Research Question
The Rationale: To Do
Example
Why is your question interesting (without clearly stating: “My question is interesting because”)
Gender quotas are designed to change who gets a seat at the table, but they may also reshape how power is expressed once everyone is seated. Exploring how male politicians adjust their rhetorical style in response offers a lens into the subtle, often hidden, dynamics of resistance and adaptation within political institutions.
Why is it important: why does it matter?
It can reveal how institutional reforms can reshape not just who participates in politics, but how they engage with each other rhetorically.
Research Question
The Gap
This information is similar what we discuss in the literature review
The research question will be rewritten after identifying the gap in the literature
Identifying the gap makes the your question derive more naturally from the literature.
Research Question
Feasibility Check
Ask yourself:
- Can I find data or documents on this?
- Can I do this in the allocated time?
- Will I need access to fieldwork or hard-to-reach respondents?
Common Pitfalls
- Choosing a topic that’s too recent and lacks literature.
- Trying to solve a normative issue without empirical tools.
- Selecting a topic just because it sounds “cool” but not feasible.
Conclusion
Takeaway: From Curiosity to Research Question
Finding a research question is typically harder than finding a topic.
Your research question will change slightly as you read more.
Your research question will also change as you work through the different components of the article: methodology, analysis, conclusion
Homework
Answer the Following Questions in a Word Document
- Search for Related Literature. Use Google Scholar to find 3 articles directly related to your topic. Search for combinations of two key concepts (e.g. “gender quotas and political rhetoric”). Type in the word document the name of the author, year, and publication name that you found. Examples:
Example:
Acemoglu, Daron, and James Robinson. 2012. Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty. New York: Crown.
Simpser, Alberto. 2012. “Does Electoral Manipulation Discourage Voter Turnout? Evidence from Mexico.” The Journal of Politics 74: 782–95.
Homework
Answer the Following Questions in a Word Document
Organize and Save the PDFs. Save PDFs using this format:
authorlastname_year_title_keywords.pdf.Place them in the “literature” subfolder. No need to type anything hereHighlight Key Ideas. Spend 5 minutes going through each abstract. Highlight key verbs and phrases about what the authors are asserting. No need to type anything here
4.a Do you agree or disagree with their main conclusion? Why?
4.b What questions do you still have after reading the abstracts?
4.c What do you want to say to them and why is it important to say that?
4.d Why does the topic chosen matter to you?
Based on your topic, write 3 research questions. Make sure they are specific, causal (if possible), and researchable.
What is the rationale for your research question? Why is your question interesting (without clearly stating: “My question is interesting because”). Why is it important: why does it matter?
Popescu (JCU): The Topic and Research Question